I like reading your economic commentary, but sometimes you're even more doomsy than I am. The world is really hopeless, but I've yet to decide if it's really the best measure to dwell on just how hopeless it is at length.
Also, I've been thinking about your situation for a while, now : as a person who is fiscally responsible, seeing other people be irresponsible and then having to help them pay for it... It's especially poignant to me because I'm always so anxious about money, (and sometimes I feel bad about it because I think that maybe I am one of those people you talk about for having so many student loans--that I'm not even repaying, yet--and no savings...) but I've realized it's really very common--at least in the modern age.
Anyway, I came up with the following conclusion : you and your ilk, who are responsible and good with money, may have to suffer unreasonably at the hands of the larger public who are selfish and idiotic. But that won't remove from you the key difference, and won't bestow on them the lacking qualities. Responsible parties will always suffer--and because they are responsible and clear-headed they will suffer more than those who are not--but they will also always have the advantage of being responsible and clear-headed....
In a related vein, I was thinking lately about economic history and in all societies and all times up until this one, when the situation got bad enough (basically, like when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were bought out) the non-endowed classes would rise up and destroy credit records thereby starting anew. Even the endowed classes did it from time to time (see kings/emperors and their lands). Really, this is the first and only time in the history of humanity that we haven't been allowed a "reset" button. You're talking about financial earthquakes and tremors, but really it much more profound than that and will reverberate much further than finance.
Yes, I agree. It will be far worse than financial earthquakes, and it will reverberate much further than finance. Reset buttons are accompanied with major societal upheavals.
By the way, thank you for reading. And letting me know you enjoy them. Sometimes I think no one's reading, but obviously not! :)
And thank you for thinking of me. Though I try to be responsible, unfortunately I don't think it's enough. We are of modest means and I worry we won't have the resources to weather what may be coming.
Well, about reset buttons ; in France, for example, during the transition from monarchy to republic (which was precipitated by an untenable economic situation for the "everyday" people) that involved a terrible societal upheaval. But in Japan, throughout Heian, Asuka and Kamakura, the "everyday" people rather frequently stormed the capitol and destroyed the credit records and this caused no substantive change in their society. So this leads me to wonder if a reset actually necessitates upheaval--then again, the people in previous periods in Japan did storm the capitol to destroy these records rather frequently while the French only destroyed their monarchy once...
I have the same problem with my journal and knowing if anyone's reading. A tree falling in the woods, I suppose.
I think, working together, you and family will be able to weather what comes. At any rate, that's my hope and I don't think it's unreasonable.
They're saying, here, that the economy hasn't been so bad for the last 100 years--if we consider the last hundred years in Japan, it's a rather striking statement. For the time being I'm just trying to keep my job and not feel too dissatisfied with that or what it requires. Thank God, I'm not hungry or homeless just yet. :-)
Seriously, they say that about an economy for 100 years? Sounds like the memory of WWII and post-WWII has disappeared...
I've tried to keep in touch in your journal, but sometimes weeks go by between when I have time to come onto LiveJournal.
I don't think these records are destroyable. Too spread out geographically, in data co-location services, etc. The plot of Tyler Durden would not necessarily succeed today.
I am glad your belly is full and your bed is warm. :)
Yeah, I'm really not sure how clearly those people were thinking at the time, but it's been picked up in the media and you should know how moods tend to become realities in economies... Besides, Japanese are so damned fickle/conservative that it'll take some pretty serious changes to avert it.
You're a very busy man, now, it's no wonder! ;-)
I agree, I don't think these records are destroyable. It would take an executive order/royal pardon, if you will, and even then it wouldn't be "destroying" so much as "overlooking". That or the coming of the end of the world.
It's important to keep in mind what is important. :-)
There is another theory I've heard that economies will necessarily contract as baby-boomers leave the workforce and eventually die--that is to say, I've heard some murmurs that later generations won't be able to make more than their parents and grandparents (in fact, indicators show children and grandchildren are actually getting paid less on some counts than their parents and grandparents and are certainly getting slower and smaller raises...) no matter how much they consume. Even with technology to make workers more efficient and an overall increase in education rates to make their work smarter, it's being said that that won't justify fewer workers splitting the same-sized pie...
Oh, goodness...
I like reading your economic commentary, but sometimes you're even more doomsy than I am. The world is really hopeless, but I've yet to decide if it's really the best measure to dwell on just how hopeless it is at length.
Also, I've been thinking about your situation for a while, now : as a person who is fiscally responsible, seeing other people be irresponsible and then having to help them pay for it... It's especially poignant to me because I'm always so anxious about money, (and sometimes I feel bad about it because I think that maybe I am one of those people you talk about for having so many student loans--that I'm not even repaying, yet--and no savings...) but I've realized it's really very common--at least in the modern age.
Anyway, I came up with the following conclusion : you and your ilk, who are responsible and good with money, may have to suffer unreasonably at the hands of the larger public who are selfish and idiotic. But that won't remove from you the key difference, and won't bestow on them the lacking qualities. Responsible parties will always suffer--and because they are responsible and clear-headed they will suffer more than those who are not--but they will also always have the advantage of being responsible and clear-headed....
In a related vein, I was thinking lately about economic history and in all societies and all times up until this one, when the situation got bad enough (basically, like when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were bought out) the non-endowed classes would rise up and destroy credit records thereby starting anew. Even the endowed classes did it from time to time (see kings/emperors and their lands). Really, this is the first and only time in the history of humanity that we haven't been allowed a "reset" button. You're talking about financial earthquakes and tremors, but really it much more profound than that and will reverberate much further than finance.
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By the way, thank you for reading. And letting me know you enjoy them. Sometimes I think no one's reading, but obviously not! :)
And thank you for thinking of me. Though I try to be responsible, unfortunately I don't think it's enough. We are of modest means and I worry we won't have the resources to weather what may be coming.
I hope things are going okay for you in Japan.
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I have the same problem with my journal and knowing if anyone's reading. A tree falling in the woods, I suppose.
I think, working together, you and family will be able to weather what comes. At any rate, that's my hope and I don't think it's unreasonable.
They're saying, here, that the economy hasn't been so bad for the last 100 years--if we consider the last hundred years in Japan, it's a rather striking statement. For the time being I'm just trying to keep my job and not feel too dissatisfied with that or what it requires. Thank God, I'm not hungry or homeless just yet. :-)
Reply
I've tried to keep in touch in your journal, but sometimes weeks go by between when I have time to come onto LiveJournal.
I don't think these records are destroyable. Too spread out geographically, in data co-location services, etc. The plot of Tyler Durden would not necessarily succeed today.
I am glad your belly is full and your bed is warm. :)
Reply
You're a very busy man, now, it's no wonder! ;-)
I agree, I don't think these records are destroyable. It would take an executive order/royal pardon, if you will, and even then it wouldn't be "destroying" so much as "overlooking". That or the coming of the end of the world.
It's important to keep in mind what is important. :-)
There is another theory I've heard that economies will necessarily contract as baby-boomers leave the workforce and eventually die--that is to say, I've heard some murmurs that later generations won't be able to make more than their parents and grandparents (in fact, indicators show children and grandchildren are actually getting paid less on some counts than their parents and grandparents and are certainly getting slower and smaller raises...) no matter how much they consume. Even with technology to make workers more efficient and an overall increase in education rates to make their work smarter, it's being said that that won't justify fewer workers splitting the same-sized pie...
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